Johanna Seibt specializes in the areas of analytical ontology and metaphysics. Over the last two decades she has been engaged in working out the foundations of a new process ontology. In this context she has investigated the methodological presuppositions of standard analytical ontology, presented an axiomatic characterization of substance ontology, and discussed the identity and persistence of objects and persons. She endorses Carnap's early insight that 'ontology'--structural descriptions of referential domains--can and should be metaphysically neutral. She criticizes the substance paradigm ("myth of substance") in analytical ontology, which she defines in terms of 20 presuppositions. As she tries to show, General Process Theory, a process ontology that abandons all of the presuppositions of the traditional substance paradigm, can accommodate the ontological commitments of both common sense and science.

She is also known as an interpreter of Sellars' philosophy. Her 1990 book on Sellars was the first comprehensive interpretations of Sellars' work in English; later she wrote a short introduction for students that was the first synoptic presentation of Sellars' work in German (2007). Her other research interests pertain to the philosophy of (intercultural) dialogue and, most recently, to the philosophy of social robotics. Currently she holds a Chair in "Transdisciplinary Process Studies for Integrated Social Robotics." Her most recent project in "Integrative Social Robotics", involving 25 researchers from 10 disciplines from the Humanities, Social and Human Sciences, and Robotics, is supported by a Semper Ardens grant from the Carlsberg Foundation.